Federal & State Government Resources For Entrepreneurs & Investors
Texas Venture Gala & Forum 2026 Panel “Federal & State Government Resources For Entrepreneurs & Investors”, Moderated by Texas Venture Gala & Forum Curator & Founder, CS Freeland
The panel featured SBIR Advisors & The Building Texas Show Host, Justin McKenzie; Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program & Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, Lissa West; and a longtime Patent and Trademark Resource Center librarian speaking on behalf of the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s Southwest Regional Outreach Office.
SBIR Advisors is a San Antonio–based firm that helps technology companies secure federal innovation funding and defense contracts and reports more than $600 million in awards won for its clients. McKenzie also founded and hosts The Building Texas Show, a media platform covering the entrepreneurs, civic leaders, industries, and communities shaping Texas.
The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program is a State of Texas–funded initiative providing free aerospace, engineering, prototyping, and product-development assistance to Texas businesses; and West also represented the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, a member-driven economic-development organization working with more than 330 companies, governments, and educational institutions across Southeast Texas.
Another entrepreneur resource we showcased was the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program’s nationwide network of designated libraries helping the public access patent and trademark information and search tools, which the librarian Larayne Dallas, spoke about as part of her work at the USPTO Southwest Regional Outreach Office connecting innovators across six states with federal intellectual-property education, assistance, and resources.
Speakers discussed patent and trademark guidance, Small Business Innovation Research funding, free technical assistance from NASA and industry engineers, and university partnerships that can help founders develop prototypes.
A key takeaway was that many entrepreneurs are unaware of the free or low-cost resources already available to support innovation and product development.
This Texas Venture Gala & Forum panel recap was made possible by our Editorial Partner, Texas State University. Their McCoy College of Business Center for Student Entrepreneurship program exists to prepare the next generation of founders to build ventures that matter. Learn more about their innovation and commercialization here. Check out the entire Texas Venture Gala & Forum 2026 recap here.
